4 Reasons We Use Instagram to Tell Our School Story

I recently finished reading Hacking Leadership: 10 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Learning that Teachers, Students, and Parents Love by Joe Sanfelippo and Tony Sinanis. It is a great book for educational leaders -- filled with sound advice and "ready to implement" strategies. A significant part of the book focuses on the critical role of developing (and maintaining) a positive school culture and then sharing the story of your school with your community. The book really resonated with me, validating some of the work we have been doing at our school, and it gave me some ideas for improvement.

In Hacking Leadership, the authors discuss the importance of connecting with your school community in the places they frequent (i.e. social media). For some time now, our school (Willis Junior High School in Chandler, Arizona) has had a Facebook page and a Twitter account, but this year we became very deliberate about our use of Instagram to tell the story of our school. We posted frequently, and focused on our diversity (academic offerings, student interests, athletics, culture, etc.), using the hashtag #wjhsstory. There are several reasons I think Instagram has become an important part of communicating our core values and telling the Willis story.

1. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. Unfortunately, the image that a community has of a school is not always accurate, or positive. This is something we have struggled with at Willis. I occasionally hear comments about our school that paints a vivid, and unflattering picture of our students and school community -- often based on very old stories/experiences, or hearsay.  One of our goals for using Instagram is to replace these negative images of the imagination with images that portray the truth about our students and our school. Photos are a powerful medium for storytelling and they stick. People remember pictures.
2. Celebration. At Willis, we believe in recognizing and celebrating the "small wins" because these moments help us build momentum. For students who have seen limited success in school, those who struggle with motivation, or those who simply deserve some recognition, Instagram provides a venue for celebrating their successes. We frequently post images of student work, award ceremonies, good sportsmanship, collaboration, as well as school and individual accomplishments. For many of our students (and even staff members), being "Insta-famous" is something they savor (I frequently have students ask me if I am going to post something to Instagram). It is a simple way to recognize, and celebrate, both students and staff.
3. Purpose and Relevance. Instagram also provides us with a way to demonstrate to our students, staff, parents, and community that the work we are doing at school is both purposeful and relevant. Pictures are an informal way of educating our community about what we really do in junior high school. I find that many of our Instagram followers are surprised by the level of problem solving, collaboration, and challenge our students face on a daily basis. We also receive frequent comments about the creativity of our students and the lesson planning and instructional design of our teachers.
4. Transparency and Pride. We have made great strides related to the culture and climate of our school, but we are far from perfect (especially the principal). However, I believe transparency is important (something that Joe and Tony emphasize in their book) and Instagram provides us with another method of giving parents, and our community, a view of what happens at Willis. While we have a lot to work on, our students and staff also have accomplished a great deal and their daily activities are a source of inspiration and pride. We want our school community to be proud of the learning space at Willis and Instagram helps us showcase the efforts of our students and staff -- highlighting their hard work. It also gives our parents and followers the opportunity to reinforce these efforts with "likes" and comments.

Instagram is obviously only one of many tools for telling a school's story. If you are looking for other ways to engage your community, I would suggest that you pick-up a copy of Hacking Leadership and follow some of the suggestions provided by Tony and Joe. Their book has given me some ideas for extending our use of Instagram, doing more to involve students in our story telling, and perhaps beginning a student led podcast and livestreaming of school events. In the meantime, if you would like to see how we are using Instagram, follow us at @wjhsfirebirds and #wjhsstory. Be sure to throw our students some love and encouragement and help us tell the Wills story!